I don’t want to wake up. Why do you get up in the morning?

It’s very common to hear people waking up in a toasty, warm bed, pulling the covers over their head and saying “I don’t want to wake up! I don’t want to leave this bed!”

It’s true that this could be simply because of the joy of feeling cosy, comfortable and relaxed all snuggled up under your duvet and wanting to prolong that delicious feeling for as long as possible, but for some it may come from another origin: not knowing why to get up in the morning. For these people, they may be going through a rough patch and may be feeling a little bit depressed about things, particularly their purpose in life. This article explores suggestions for why you do get up in the morning so that if you are feeling down, maybe a few of these ideas will motivate you to get up next time you’re starting your day.

Why do you get up in the morning?

1.) You get up in the morning because you CAN

We get up everyday because we can. We have been blessed with the opportunity to create a life for ourselves and make it the best life that we can. But how do we do that? How do you find the motivation to get up because you WANT to and not just because you can?

Getting up in the morning is all about motivation. You need something to motivate you enough to get out of bed and start your day. So what motivates you?

2.) You get up in the morning to achieve Desires, Goals & bucket list items

Knowing what you don’t want and knowing what you DO want:

Desires to do certain things can motivate you to get out of bed in the morning. If you’re thinking “there’s nothing I want to do!” or “I don’t know what I want!”, then there’s good news for you: Every time you know that you don’t want something, you automatically are one step closer to knowing what you do want.

For example: If you know that you don’t want to work in the city amongst thousands of workers working in a tiny cubicle, you can start figuring out what you do want. Maybe this suggests you want to work in a smaller company that’s got fewer workers and a friendlier environment. Maybe it means that you know that you want to work somewhere that’s comfortable and spacious – maybe even working outdoors. You see how knowing what you don’t want can help you figure out what you do want?

Turn push factors into pull factors

There are two categories of motivating factors for getting us to get out of bed in the morning and live our lives: push factors and pull factors.

Push factors are those things which push us in an uncomfortable way to get stuff done, usually out of fear and shame. It is the metaphorical whip that drives you into action. I’ll give you a few examples of push factors that motivate people to get up in the morning:

• Fear of homelessness
• Fear of poverty and related issues including hunger, poor lifestyle, few luxuries, little opportunity for fun
• Fear of disappointing others, usually parents, guardians, partners and children
• Fear of looking bad to society and being labelled with negative labels like “lazy”, “useless” etc.
• Fear of being alone and lonely
• Fear of wasting your life away

A better-feeling motivator would be a pull factor, which draws us into doing things like a sugar lump can entice a horse to move forward towards it. All push factors can be pivoted into pull factors.

There can be lots of other good pull factors which usually take the form of goals and bucket list items of things you really want to do. Goals can be as general or as specific as you want to make them. Here are a few examples of goals that can help motivate you to wake up and make things happen:

• Specific Goals:
  • Desire to learn a new skill because it looks like fun (play a musical instrument, learn a language, learn an art or craft)
  • Desire to see and experience certain things in the world (eg swimming with dolphins, dining at a top restaurant, visiting a natural wonder in the world, hearing a certain performer perform live, experiencing what love feels like, experiencing adventures, thrills and excitement)
  • Desire to help a certain cause in the world
• General Goals:
  • Desire to feel good
  • Desire to feel happy
  • Desire to feel useful
  • Desire to feel free
  • Desire to create new things
  • Desire to expand and grow personally and spiritually

For more ideas on life goals see this article: Life Goals

If you don’t know what your goals are, sit down and make a list for yourself. Then pin it up somewhere you can see it near your bed to remind yourself of all the reasons you have to get up in the morning, because every day you can take a step forward towards meeting these goals. It can give more purpose and motivation to doing your job and earning money and can help you feel better about your days.

3.) You get up in the morning to experience all the joys of life and to follow your fun

Goals aside, there are lots of little things in life which can give great joy and satisfaction. Sometimes these little things can give a clue to our true passion in life and sometimes they are simply moments of appreciation that we experience, which feel good.

When you wake up in the morning, if you have little joys to look forward to, it can help motivate you to get out of bed.

Examples of everyday joys and treats to look forward to:

• Beautiful sights e.g. seeing the sun rise and set with glorious colors, enjoying the experience of matching an outfit and looking good in the mirror
• Wonderful sounds e.g. hearing a tune you love or playing an instrument yourself.
• Delicious tastes e.g. that first taste of warm coffee in the morning, or of melted butter on perfectly toasted bread.
• Pleasant sensations e.g. a hug from a loved one and other physical intimacy; joy of dance,
• Fun experiences with people: enjoying a laugh with a friend or loved one, sharing interesting and intellectually stimulating conversations, enjoying the feelings of acceptance and stimulation.
• Fun experiences with animals: the joy of cuddling up with your pet, the fun of playing with an animal
• Enjoyable entertainment: e.g. reading a good book, seeing a good movie, playing a fun computer game,
• Creativity: making art, writing a story, poem or your thoughts on a certain topic.
• Excitement and thrills: The thrill of riding a motorbike to work or the little thrilled feeling in your stomach when you jump just as an elevator comes to a stop.
• Flow: Enjoying those moments when you’re in a state of flow and everything seems to come easily and before you know it, hours have passed and you’ve barely noticed because you were enjoying the productive flow so much.

It may be a good idea to make a list of all the things you find fun or have enjoyed doing in the past and putting that besides your goal list to look at in the morning.

It may be helpful to start your list with morning-things that are most likely to immediately resonate with you in the morning. Things like “enjoying your dog waking you up in the morning”, “enjoying seeing the beautiful colors of the sunrise”, “enjoying picking out an outfit, getting dressed and looking smart” “enjoying the taste of coffee”, “enjoying the taste of melting butter of freshly toasted bread”, “enjoying listening to some great tunes as you walk to work listening to your ipod” or “enjoying the feeling of driving your motorbike to work” etc.

Sometimes there are things that you think seem fun but you need to muster the courage to try them. It may be being brave enough to do that bungee jump you’ve always wanted to experience or even a matter of gathering your courage to go to a singing lesson. You ARE brave enough to do them, it’s just a matter of pushing past the initial resistance. Stop thinking of all the reasons not to do it, and just think of how fun it could be, – concentrate on the positives – rev yourself up and do it!

4.) You wake up in the morning to experience expansion

As humans we all have a desire to expand and grow, be it in experiences (wanting to experience a lot of different sights, sounds, tastes and feelings), knowledge, to better the world, or to better yourself through personal development or spiritual growth. That need to grow and expand within specific fields can be a great motivator to get up in the morning.

5.) Get out of bed because chances are, if you get out of bed, things will get better

If you don’t want to get up in the morning because life is really bad right now, keep in mind that things can turn around – even today! Things can start feeling better!

Often, when we go through tough times, we come out the other end stronger. A perfect example of this is the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle who found himself feeling purposeless and depressed as a university student and just at the point of declaring that he couldn’t live with himself anymore, that’s when he had a spiritual aha moment that changed his life forever, giving his life a renewed sense of purpose and filling him with a sense of peace and appreciation.

One way to get yourself going is to tell yourself that you can start working towards a goal for 10 minutes and then you can stop if you like. Chances are you’ll want to continue once you get going, and then you’re out of bed and feeling better.